Leading dental experts are calling for urgent reform amidst new data on how the pandemic affected access to dentistry.
The British Dental Association (BDA) has warned the latest official research on the impact of the pandemic on access to dental care in England underlines the need for urgent and fundamental reform.
Based on the findings of the 2021 Adult Oral Health Survey, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) found that during the first year of the pandemic only 43% of those who reported toothache or other pain reported receiving complete professional treatment.
In addition:
- 19% received temporary treatment
- 23% were given advice on how to manage the problem on their own
- 25% received a prescription for antibiotics
- 11% received no professional treatment or advice.
Those in the most deprived communities suffered the most. For example, 24% of those in the most affluent communities reported toothache or other oral pain. This compares to 41% in the most deprived.
Dentist leaders stress England’s oral health gap will inevitably widen as a result of ongoing access challenges.
BBC research in August 2022 reported nine in 10 practices were unable to take on new adult NHS patients. More than 47 million NHS dental appointments have been lost since lockdown in England alone, according to BDA estimations.
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Decades of progress
British Dental Association chair Eddie Crouch said: ‘These access problems are still with us. Political choices mean they are set to become the norm, as dentists walk away from a broken, underfunded system.
‘NHS dentistry can be saved, but we’re yet to see evidence government has the ambition to do so.
‘Decades of progress in the nation’s oral health risk going into reverse. If ministers fail to turn the page the price will be paid in our poorest communities.’
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